Roquan Smith Picks His Moment
When the last kick had been made and the Bears finished celebrating a 23-20 win over Houston in the locker room, Roquan Smith made another statement about his contract situation.
It came after he made a less subtle one on the field.
Right down to when Smith heaved the football a country mile after his interception, Smith was communicating a message to GM Ryan Poles.
It did take a camp holdout, three games and a hip injury. But there was no mistaking Smith's big play being like the way Shaq Leonard of Indianapolis plays in this same defensive scheme, and that's one player whose contract he would like to surpass.
"It's big time," Smith said. "I've showcased what I can do year in and year out. Not having camp, you know. First two games still working my way in.
"But, hey, third game normally feeling (his way around). So I think here on out you can expect some big things."
Smith himself said earlier the contract talk time is over, so don't expect the Bears to suddenly come around to his way of thinking now.
However, coach Matt Eberflus after the game said he anticipates this as a starting point for the rest of Smith's season, just as their linebacker said.
"I just think he's getting comfortable in the defense," Eberflus said. "The linebackers played downhill. It's a big difference between going from 3-4 to 4-3. I've had a lot of linebackers, because I switched over when I was in Dallas and switched over when it went to Indy.
"They were 3-4 going to a 4-3 and what happens, it's different. You play off the defensive linemen in front of you a little bit different. And it's more of a speed position, more of a downhill, attacking position rather than a lateral slide position. I just think he's starting to really feel that. He's starting to feel that downhill speed that he can get and it's coming along. That's happened the three places I've been before."
Eberflus wasn't quite ready to call it Leonard material, but almost.
"That to me is getting there, where that position, it's a hot position, and we need production out of that and he certainly had a really good game today," Eberflus said.
The stat line: 16 tackles, two for loss and one of those near the goal line, and one interception that decided the game with 1 1/2 minutes left.
He stepped in front of Rex Burkhead and caught the pass from Davis Mills that Bears defensive tackle Angelo Blackson had tipped in the backfield. The only fault to the play was failing to get to the end zone, but Santos took care of this moments later. It actually might have helped that he did it this way because it deprived the Texans of a last chance to tie it.
Then Smith got up off the ground and heaved the ball. It was apparent what he had on his mind when he did it—the Bears GM.
"Then I wonder where that ball went," Smith said about the football that wound up somewhere in the stands. "I just tried to throw it so far to say everything. You know what I mean?
"That was the best part, though: Throwing that ball."
If it was a not-so-subtle description of his pending free agency status after this season or his way of saying the Bears had the chance to pay him earlier and now it will cost them.
Then he followed with a less subtle comment describing where he'll go from here.
"So I'm always hungry to get better cause, hey, I'm on a one-year deal essentially," Smith said. "So I'm just trying to do everything I can to do what I need to do."
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